I've been perusing this book recently while exercising at the gym (for some crazy reason, my best place to think about art) and it's really inspired me. I must have bought it a long time ago, probably at Joann's with a 50% off coupon, then put it on the shelf and forgot about it. But now that I'm getting ready to host an altered book round robin, I looked to it for some tips and I'm so glad I did!
Cupid and I are off to Lake Itasca State Park this morning, hopefully. I say hopefully because my dear old dog had diarrhea last night and a very rumbly tummy this morning. She's had some probiotics and a Maalox and ate a little chicken and rice and seems to be feeling O.K. She's always had a very sensitive GI tract. 
I finished this journal cover a few days ago. It's a collage of Graphic 45 paper, some botanical images, a bit of handmade (not by me though) paper with plant material in it, a little mesh fabric, and some dried flowers. I painted on some diluted inks too, which worked well with the texture of the handmade paper. In retrospect, I think I wish that I'd skipped the dried flowers except for that tiny brown one in the center. I will still enjoy writing and sketching in my new altered journal though. 
Here's the 2nd project from the Mike Putman workshops I attended last summer. It started with a 12x12 piece of MDF to which we all added patterned papers, transparency and paper images, chipboard, and and anything else we desired to complement to the wonderful kits that Mike provided. Everything was adhered and layered with beeswax which we then rubberstamped and applied Pearl-Ex. When I finally brought it home due to fears of the beeswax melting in transport, I added some additional glass beads, Rub and Buff, and tried some gold foiling which I didn't quite get the hang of. I'll have to attempt it again, not on beeswax though. 
Last summer, I was fortunate enough to take two workshops with Mike Putman from Jack and Cat Curio. This is from the first--using metal tape, chipboard, mica, India ink, and more on a wooden plaque. 
Cupid found a nest of baby bunnies about 10 days ago. Mama bunny had decided to have them in the center of an old lilac bush in our backyard, despite the fact that a German Shepherd Dog lives here. We knew we would do everything in our power to protect the babies from Cupid, and after reading all about about what to do if you find baby bunnies, we also decided to try to protect the babies from the neighborhood cats. What made a lot of sense to me in the information gathering was that dogs and cats are not natural predators of rabbits and helped me decide that we should definitely try to protect the babies, although I would have done it anyway :) 
I tried pretty hard to find a vintage St. Patrick's Day image that included sheep---yes, my love affair with sheep continues--which means I spent too much time sitting on my butt, searching. I bet I could have found one eventually, but that would have entailed spending way too much time. You wouldn't think it would that difficult since Ireland is all about the sheep, right? However, I found these two sweet lasses, one hugging her Irish Setter. 
Here's a strange little piece of art I just finished. I don't know what it means...I was playing with laminate and wallpaper samples and some patina'd copper strips, and this is what happened! 
My son, Alexander, had his first exhibit at his school's art fair on Tuesday. He used crayons, markers, and watercolors to decorate clip art butterflies. We attached them to a branch painted with gold acrylic paint and supported by a mound of air-dry clay. Alexander had the most fun embellishing the clay with beads, sequins, and small paper clips. We gave the clay a few spritzes of homemade glimmer mist (Pearl-Ex + turquoise re-inker in water). Although the entries weren't judged, Alexander thought it was really cool to receive a certificate of participation. The butterflies will now be sent to the Holocaust Museum Houston for their Butterfly Project.
Here's my old Cupid-dog, getting snowed on recently. Most senior dogs like a cozy, warm place to curl up, don't they?? Not Cupid. She loves to lay outside on the deck on all but the coldest days. Crazy bitch :)
Blog guilt. I'm suffering from it. Occurs when you've neglected your blog for too long. Yep, I took the Blogging without Obligation pledge when I first started my blog, but some of the guilt remains. I try to use it to my advantage and turn it into a boot to the butt to get busy. 
My special girl turned 12 years old Christmas Day. She's pictured above amidst the present-opening chaos. Later, she and I went for our annual birthday/Christmas walk but her elbow was bothering her so we turned it into a nice long drive through snow-covered farmland instead. 
Well, I'm fairly sure we're going to have a white Christmas here in the Twin Cities area. It's coming down again this morning, plus there were already about 5 inches on the ground. Christmas always sneaks up on me too quickly but this year, the time between Thanksgiving and now has just flown by, hasn't it?
I am happy to have finally finished this ATC. Its components had been lost following the move back from AZ then it just kinda fell off my radar screen-- you know how that can happen? But now it can head towards Barb's house....yay! 
